Fieldcrest Cannon Workers Interview

Partial Transcript: M1; They are doing, its a PBS right? Documentary--

JUDITH HELFAND: Yes

[break in video]

(indistinct converstation, crosstalk)

Segment Synopsis: Various pro union workers discuss the outcome of the union election.

Keywords: union organizing

Subjects: Cannon Mills Company; Kannapolis (N.C.); Labor unions--Organizing; Textile workers--Labor unions

Partial Transcript: F1; What we all fear now when we, uh, go back to work we (inaudible) gonna be harassed. Cause, uh, one who wore the button in there know how they were harassed. They'd walk by you -- then they would even harass some of the -- wel I had a a foreman to tell me-- no a head fixer tell me " Why are you wearing those buttons? You getting ready to retire."

Segment Synopsis: Pro-union workers discuss there concerns about the treatment that they will receive when they return to work after they lost the union elections.

Keywords: African-American mill workers; women mill workers

Subjects: Retirement; Working class African Americans; Working class women

Partial Transcript: M1; What is the differnece in this election that you see in this election --

F1: It was a lot better, a lot better

M1: What made it better?

Segment Synopsis: Workers discuss the differences between this current union campaign and ones that occurred in the 1980s and 1970s.

Keywords: union organizing

Subjects: Labor unions--Organizing

Partial Transcript: M1: What does yes mean?

M2: Yes means yes to freedom, yes to having a say, yes to getting them off your back. Yeah you got to stand up to them.

Segment Synopsis: Workers discuss what the union means to them.

Keywords: union organizing

Subjects: Cannon Mills Company; Labor laws and legislation; Labor unions

Partial Transcript: GEORGE STONEY: So as soon as the lady behind moves out--

[break in video]

STONEY: Talk about the religion.

M1: I thank god for people that would stand up for religion and righteous as Christ stood for the redemption of lost sinning men and women when he went to Calvary cross and gave his life for the freedom of righteous, for the freedom of liberty that we have today.

Segment Synopsis: Workers discuss the role their religious beliefs have on their union organizing.

Keywords: stretch-out; union organizing; women mill workers

Subjects: Labor unions--Organizing; Retirement

Partial Transcript: M1: Ok we're going.

GEORGE STONEY: Ok, tell us about your father.

F1: What part, with--

STONEY: Your talking about your father.

F1: Yeah he's worked in the mill, in China Grove Cotton Mill all his life and that's all he knows.

Segment Synopsis: A woman mill worker discusses how being on 12 hour shifts affects her life.

Keywords: weavers; women mill workers

Subjects: Working class women; Working class women--Family relationships

Partial Transcript: GEORGE STONEY: Do any of your folks come from mill familes? Tell about your-- the way you look at it and the way your folks looked at it.

F1: Ok, my father is out at a mill now, he's 72 years old and he worked 38 years for Cannon Mills as a card hand.

Segment Synopsis: Workers discuss being followed by Industrial Engineers and the issues this causes.

Keywords: Cannon Mills; spinners; stretch-out; weavers; women mill workers

Subjects: Cannon Mills Company; Looms; Working class women

Partial Transcript: F1: I hit my loom- my arm on one of my looms last week and I had a knot that come up on it. I told my supervisor. And he said "Well how did you do that?" And I showed him what had happened. I said " Rushing around these looms so much."

Segment Synopsis: Workers discuss injuries they received on the job and issues with wages.

Keywords: brown lung; eight hour workday; stretch-out; women mill workers

Subjects: Textile workers--Health and hygiene; Wages

Partial Transcript: GEORGE STONEY: What about this accusation that all of this stuff has been stirred up by Yankee's and outsiders?

F1: Its not--

F2: Well i'm not a Yankee, I'm a rebel.

Segment Synopsis: Workers talk about unfair treatment in the mills